A Quick Note on Character Names

Something I've gotten a bit of flack about are how plain my character names are in the Milligan Creek series. One reason I chose to go that direction is because I wanted the names to reflect the milieu in which I grew up, where names were, well, plain. I mean, Kevin Miller. Do you have any idea how many of us there are in the world? To prove the point, on three occasions, I have been flagged by the police and US Homeland Security due to the nefarious actions of other Kevin Millers who happen to have the same birthdate as me. Yeesh. And no, for the last time, I have never been arrested in New Mexico!

Anyway, starting with Henrietta Blunt, and then continuing to Fiona Pickleberrybush, I decided to go in a more creative direction with names. Which leads me to the antagonist for book four in the series, The Great Grain Elevator Incident, which I am about to start writing (once I get issue 3 of Meth: The Immortal out of the way). I'm a big fan of NFL football, and I've often said sports is one of the best places to find unique names. Sure enough, in a serendipitous moment last week, I was watching a game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs when I noticed the Chiefs' place kicker's last name: Butker. Just as I was thinking about how that would be an unfortunate name to grow up with, I noticed Baltimore's place kicker is named Justin Tucker. Suddenly, I put the two names together in my head: Tucker Butker. What a great name for a bad guy! Suddenly, all sorts of story possibilities opened up in my mind. 

Once again, as a writer, you never know when or where inspiration will strike, so keep your eyes and ears open!